A tropical cyclone is a storm system A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm, characterized by a large low-pressure A low pressure area, or "low", is a region where the atmospheric pressure at sea level is lower in relation to surrounding locations. Low pressure systems form under areas wind divergence which occur in upper levels of the troposphere. Within the field of atmospheric dynamics, these areas of wind divergence aloft are either on the east center and numerous thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, a hailstorm, or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically-assigned cloud type associated with the thunderstorm is the cumulonimbus. Thunderstorms are that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95 rises, resulting in condensation Condensation is the change of the physical state of aggregation of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase and the reverse of evaporation. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, bypassing the liquid phase, the change is called deposition. While condensation can occur in many different substances, the of water vapor Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. Water vapor is one state of the water cycle within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under normal atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters A nor'easter is a type of macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, so named because the winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. More specifically, it describes a low pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the East Coast, European windstorms A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic windstorm associated with areas of low pressure that track across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe. They are most common in the winter months. Deep low pressure areas are relatively common over the North Atlantic and frequently track past the north coasts of the British Isles onto the, and polar lows A polar low is a small-scale, short-lived atmospheric low pressure system that is found over the ocean areas poleward of the main polar front in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The systems usually have a horizontal length scale of less than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) and exist for no more than a couple of days. They are part of the, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems. Tropical cyclones originate in the doldrums The Doldrums, also called the "equatorial calms", is a nautical term for the equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds. It affects areas of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean that are within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator, near the equator The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In simpler language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, about 10° away from it.

The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical The tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' N latitude and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°26' (23.4°) S latitude. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone (see geographical regions of the globe, and their formation in maritime tropical air masses In meteorology, an air mass is a large volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adopt the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime source regions. Colder air masses are termed polar. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth nature, with counterclockwise A clockwise motion is one that proceeds 'like the clock's hands': from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top. In a mathematical sense, a circle defined parametrically in a positive Cartesian plane by the equations x = sin t and y = cos t is traced clockwise as t increases in value. Described another way, rotation in the Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator. Earth's northern hemisphere contains most of its land area and most of its human population and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere (from the Greek word σφαιρα +ημι(half)) literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.

While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to other kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. On Earth, it is the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into drops heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface. Rain is the primary source of fresh water for most areas of the world, providing suitable conditions for diverse, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge Storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically a tropical cyclone. Storm surge is caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea level. Low pressure at the center of a weather system also has a small secondary effect, as well as spawning tornadoes A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. The most intense of all atmospheric phenomena, tornadoes come in many sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. This is why coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding A flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, conditions. They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer and winter can be extreme. In regions traditionally latitudes Latitude, usually denoted by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body) north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the imaginary horizontal lines shown running east-to-west (or west to east) on maps (particularly so in the Mercator projection) that run either north or south of the equator, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air, and the means by which thermal energy is distributed on the surface of the Earth mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75 percent of the atmosphere's mass and 99 percent of its water vapor and aerosols, and to maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide.

Many tropical cyclones develop Tropical cyclogenesis is the technical term describing the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude cyclogenesis occurs. Tropical cyclogenesis involves the development of a warm-core cyclone, due to when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. The background environment is modulated by climatological cycles and patterns such as the Madden-Julian oscillation The Madden–Julian oscillation is an equatorial traveling pattern of anomalous rainfall that is planetary in scale. The MJO is characterized by an eastward progression of large regions of both enhanced and suppressed tropical rainfall, observed mainly over the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The anomalous rainfall is usually first evident over, El Niño-Southern Oscillation El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a periodic change in the atmosphere and ocean of the tropical Pacific region. It is defined in the atmosphere by the sign of the pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin, Australia, and in the ocean by warming or cooling of surface waters of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is the warm, and the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Mode. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75 percent of the atmosphere's mass and 99 percent of its water vapor and aerosols; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an eye The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area and typically 30–65 km in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather of a cyclone occurs. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the. On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates. It is not possible to artificially induce the dissipation of these systems with current technology.

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